News: Kids Get Their Groove On In Toca Dance

On March 3, Toca Boca will launch its 31st app, Toca Dance, nearly five years after the release of its first product. True to its name, Toca Dance lets kids explore their creativity through dance and music. No technical skills are required — Toca Dance is all about wacky, fun and expressive movement.

Inspired by the high-energy style of that found in J-pop and dubstep, as well as the quirkiness of creators like Michel Gondry, Toca Boca made Toca Dance to feel relatable for all kids. It’s designed for kids to embrace the simple joy of dance and explore the fun and silliness of it.

With Toca Dance, kids are in full control as the dance instructor. They pick three characters for their dance squad before going wild in the costume closet and selecting their song. Once that’s done, the squad scrambles off to rehearsals. Kids teach the dancers their moves with six sequences to create and string together — shake the choreographer’s head and the characters will mimic, swing her arms and the characters will follow. When it’s time to head to the stage, kids can change the backdrop and use special effects and pyrotechnics. Hit play and watch the show. If kids want an encore performance, they can simply save the video to their device’s camera roll and show it off to their friends.

“Dance and movement is something, like music, that everyone can relate to. That compulsive impulse that makes us bob our heads, throw our hands up, shake our hips and move our feet to a beat. It doesn’t matter how good you are, that need to move is something born in us all. It’s something kids understand and I hope they will love Toca Dance,” says Executive Producer and Toca Boca Co-Founder Emil Ovemar.

The app features five songs, ranging in style from pop to dubstep, created specifically for Toca Boca by long-term musical partner Håkan Lidbo. All five songs will be available on Spotify so kids can take their onscreen experience into the real world. The musical genres are intentionally broader than the typical nursery rhyme or simple tune often found in kids’ products.

“We want to give kids the chance to experience music in genres that typically aren’t created for them. And we saw through the kid-testing of the app that this did indeed strike a chord with them. A different soundtrack can be a starting point for parents to connect with the kids, through the app, so we filled Toca Dance with references that will unite parents and kids,” says Executive Producer and Toca Boca Co-Founder Emil Ovemar.

Renowned Swedish graphic artist Finsta has designed parts of the visuals in the app, including the logotype, setting the stage with the right street art and graffiti elements.

App Features Include:
· Eight quirky characters to dance with
· Five never-before-heard songs to groove to:
o Sweet Lemonade, a house tune fit for a dancefloor
o Minnah Bee, a playful pop song inspired by J-pop
o Let’s Go, energetic and powerful dubstep
o Olga, upbeat song with links to K-pop
o Elektronikoj, classic electro inspired by Kraftwerk
· Unique and bizarre costumes ranging in themes from superheroes and animals to food and monsters
· Eight different items to throw on the stage, five backdrops, five different special effects options, and eight sound effects ranging from cheers to boos to elephant trumpeting
· Kids can record and save their performances to their mobile devices

As with all Toca Boca apps Toca Dance features a kid-friendly interface with no in-app purchases or Third-party advertising, free of rules levels or high scores. Toca Dance is $2.99 on the App Store.

About Toca Boca
Toca Boca, the No. 1 mobile-first kids brand in the App Store, is a play studio that makes digital toys for kids. Since its first product launch in 2011, Toca Boca has released 31 apps that have been downloaded in 215 countries worldwide. With more than 100 million total downloads to date, Toca Boca apps focus on stimulating kids’ imaginations so that they can play and have fun in a safe digital environment. With offices in San Francisco, Stockholm and New York, Toca Boca is part of The Bonnier Group, a family-owned business that includes newspapers, magazines, television, cinemas and digital media. For more information, please visit www.tocaboca.com

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Alison, the American iMum is from Massachusetts. She lives there with her two sons and husband. In their spare time, they enjoy playing outside, enjoying nature and of course testing apps and fantastic products on their devices. My older son loves technology and loves testing out the “latest and newest” apps and tech. I love sharing information about apps and products with others to help them make decisions without feeling overwhelmed with all of the choices.

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